Do You Need A Publisher? Not Necessarily, Says Guillaume Jamet

In the turbulent economic landscape, it may be time for some indie devs to hold off on the dream of signing into a publisher to take care of all their woes. 

This was the advice given by Guillaume Jamet, Co-Founder of Indiesche Partners at IGDX, at his talk on navigating the turbulent economic times. 

Guillaume Jamet On Signing With Publishers

During the talk, titled Sailing The Storm- Finding A Path Through The Industry's Ups and Downs, Guillaume painted a picture of the publisher's perspective of the past decade: specifically one where money was cheap during COVID due to the Video game boom, leading to the industry needing to recoup its investments. 

Typically, signing with a publisher has been viewed as a sort of universal good- the publisher bankrolls your development and helps where it can, like a patron for your game's development. 

But that money isn't free, and Guillaume says that in recent years, some publishers have been harboring increasingly unrealistic expectations for games. 

"Publishers now already want you to have visibility, traction and wishlists", he says, citing many are growing increasingly risk-averse.

He also warned of particularly bad-faith publishers: ones who unnecessarily try to recoup their costs: 

"Make sure the publisher is only recouping stuff that brings value to you", he says. "One publisher was recouping toilet paper".

Similarly, there comes a problem with expectations: The runaway success of indie games like Silksong shouldn't mean that all indie games can reach that hype. 

"When it costs more and the market is complicated, it becomes harder to make a profit", he says. 

He also stressed that despite some having steep requirements, that didn't necessarily mean they had a sure formula for success. As a result, he instead urged developers who had not signed on to a developer to simply just make the game they want to make, with success finding them on their own. 

"Make the game you want to do. Publishers don't have the recipe for success", he says. "Make the game you want to play as a player".